Joe Clay, whose rollicking rockabilly sound has entertained crowds for decades, died Monday (Sept. 26) of complications due to kidney cancer. He was 78 years old.

His daughter, Christy Delgado, confirmed the news.

The musician, who was born Claiborne Joseph Cheramie and was also called C.J. by friends, grew up in Gretna, where his natural rhythmic talent manifested itself at a young age.

"I started playing drums, like, around the house. I beat on everything. Even at school I played with a pencil on the desk," he told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune writer Doug MacCash in 2014. "I'd get punished every single day with that. The teacher hit my hand. But I couldn't stop."

From then on, he never did. Mr. Cheramie began singing by the time he was 11 or 12, and when his parents took him to a "hillbilly music club" as a youngster and he was soon mixing the sounds he heard there with the New Orleans-flavored rhythms he of artists like Fats Domino. As a teenager, Mr. Cheramie signed to RCA subsidiary Vik Records. Within just a few years, he'd recorded nine tracks and played drums with Elvis Presley on the Louisiana Hayride.

In June 1956, Mr. Cheramie got his biggest opportunity with a spot on "The Ed Sullivan Show." He performed "Only You" after Sullivan pumped the breaks on the near-scandalous sound of his signature "Ducktail."

"We did have dress rehearsal before the show, and when I did 'Ducktail' I came out rockin' and boppin,' really jumping and shaking my butt good. And he stopped it," Mr. Cheramie recounted to MacCash. "He said, 'Hold it, I don't want that on my show.' I said, 'What do you mean?' He said 'No, I don't want that kind of stuff on my show.'"

The move halted Mr. Cheramie's musical momentum. He dropped the name Joe Clay and performed under his own name for a time, and he married his wife, Jacqueline, to whom he'd stay married for 46 years until her death. He also became the father to four daughters.

Although the biggest arc of his public music career seemed to be over, Mr. Cheramie still performed for his girls.

"I remember learning times tables through him singing them," Delgado said. "He'd make songs out of our study guides. Everything was always funny and light-hearted."

In the 1970s, he began driving a school bus in Gretna, which he did for more than a decade. He also occasionally drove the bus as a volunteer to take students on field trips, a mark of his giving nature that Delgado said was important to him.

But then, in 1986, an English promoter rediscovered Mr. Cheramie's music during a rockabilly revival and tracked him down. The promoter sent Joe Clay out on tour at least twice with dates booked in England, Holland and Sweden, according to The Times-Picayune archives, before additional tours in the United States.

"It's hard to come home and explain what happens to me over there," Mr. Cheramie said in 1989 of the European tours. "I really become Joe Clay. I really stay on the clouds. I'm on a natural high."

Mr. Cheramie's overseas performances and popularity were almost hard to believe for his family.

"It got really crazy. It was kind of a joke for us because he was such a big thing in Europe, and we're like, 'Dad, you're not a big deal,' and he's like, 'Yes, I am!' Everything was comical with him, so as we saw his travel, his pictures, we thought, 'Oh, he is a big deal,'" Delgado said.

Mr. Cheramie's work was included in a Country Music Association vintage collection, and the rights to his life story were sold to a movie production company. He also began performing locally and recording again. In 2014, he appeared at the Gretna Heritage Festival before jetting off to tour dates in France and Japan.

The rediscovery of his music, Mr. Cheramie said, was well worth the wait.

"It's so much better now," he said." I don't think I could have handled it then."

Mr. Cheramie performed for the last time in Spain about three months ago, Delgado said.

Arrangements have been made at Mothe Funeral Home. A celebration of life will be held there Sunday, Oct. 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Burial at Westlawn Memorial Park will immediately follow.

Note: This story has been updated with funeral details and comments from Christy Delgado.